AUTHOR: David DATE: 3/17/2006 03:39:00 PM ----- BODY:

Back in college days I was as happy as a clam whenever I was able to find one of Jeff Smith's Bone comics at the store. I was lucky enough to pick up the series from the start, turned off from the mainstream Marvel and DC garbage that was spewing out, and looking for independent artists and writers that still understood what story and artwork meant. The first few issues of Bone are just magical in the way the characters and places are illustrated and put together. The ink lines work as much as the drawings themselves in creating the mood of Fone Bone and his friends and, of course, the two perenially bumbling rat creatures. I wasn't able to keep up with the comic, the story arc stretched out over years and between missing issues and not being able to find any it was just a matter of time before I decided to drop the whole thing.
Come a few years later while I'm surfing the web and I run across Bone: One Volume Edition on Amazon.com. A 1,400 page compilation of the entirety of Fone Bone & Co's journeys and adventures against the Lord of Locusts, the Hooded One, and the Rat creatures. It's a joy to be able to read the entire series in one go but my only misgiving is that it seems like Jeff Smith got lazier, or perhaps, cared less about the artwork as the story progressed. There are panels and pages scattered occasionally in the latter parts of the story that revive the brilliant drawings and inking of the first few books but the majority of the illustrations I found to be less than what I expected. A bit of a disappointment but considering this was a one man show over how many years it's an understandable progression. In the end it's the bonds between the Bone cousins, between Phoney Bone and Bart, and between Lucius and Rose that give the story it's real heart. I'm glad I am finally able to pass this on to my kids.

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